As Bad as a Mile

This poem is about the idea of setting yourself up for failure, the way people take failure and how it makes you wish to undo things. It is made slightly comical by talking about throwing an apple at a bin and missing in a hyperbolic way. It is a very short 3 line poem with 2 stanzas and a AAA rhyme scheme reiterating its simplicity. The title 'as bad as a mile' shows how the persona feels a failure is a failure whether he missed the bin by and inch or a mile. 

Stanza 1:

• 'shied core' provokes empathy in the reader, and introduces the poems hyperbolic nature. Shyness contrasts with the violent language such as 'striking' and 'skidding' making the poem slightly comical and reflecting the personas emotions. 

Stanza 2:

• 'failure spreading back up the arm' suggests failure becomes a part of him, coming alive and engulfing him. 'the' suggests he wants to disassociate himself with this failure. 
• 'unraised hand calm' shows he wants to turn back time, 'calm' contrasts with violent 'striking'.
• 'apple unbitten in palm' links to the adam and eve story, the way failure is more than having missed the bin, the giving in to temtation and the way the eating the apple made them self aware and ashamed ruining their innocence.